//------------------------------// // Dreams // Story: The Sins Of The Celestial Empire // by Erol carstein //------------------------------// ++CONTACT WITH SERVER ABOARD CELESTIAS GRACE LOST. RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTICS++ ++CONDITION OF SUBJECT BLAZE: UNKNOWN. RUNNING VITALS SCAN. RUNNING SYNTHETIC BODY ELEMENTS SCAN++ ++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: EVEN A PONY WHO HAS NOTHING MAY OFFER HIS LIFE IN SERVICE TO OUR EMPRESS++ ++STANDBY++ ≤ΘΘΘ≥ Far from the raging warzone of Threnor Prime, trillions of light-years across the galaxy, a colt made his way home from school. Pepper-pot trotted along the sidewalk of the road, humming to himself happily as he and his mother made their way back to their home. Miles away in front of them, towering into the sky like a mountain of ferrocrete, adamantium, and stained glass, was Cathedral Terra. It was a titanic edifice, a building so large that it was impossible to take in its full exterior without turning your head. Emerging from its side, gothic style flying buttresses supported the incredible weight of the structure with almost arrogant ease, as they had done for countless millennia. In-between the buttress, stained glass windows a thousand meters tall and six hundred meters across displayed the holy saints of the goddess in all their glory. Rising above everything was the cathedrals holy spire, a tower of delicately forged glass and expertly wrought metal that stretched three miles into the heavens, topped with six golden statues, each a depiction of the holy six. In the silver light of the moon, filtering through the clouds like liquid silk, the saints shone, a beacon of hope to the populace of Equine Prime. Pepper-pot leapt over a stone bollard that stood at the side of the road, before quickly glancing down at his flank expectantly. His mother sighed as his face fell with disappointment. “Looks like show jumping isn’t my special talent either, momma” he said. Pepper-pot was part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders movement, an organisation funded by the Silver spoon-Tiara Corporation. The movement stretched back to the dawning days of the ancient Celestial Empire, and was even rumoured to have been started by the trinity of saints: Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. “No, honey, looks like it isn’t” his mother said, a fond smile on her face. She ruffled her sons salt-and-pepper mane affectionately, before leaning down and nuzzling him. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it one day, there’s no need to rush” the mare reached up with a hoof and gently massaged her right temple, with a faint beeping and a dull whining, the holographic projector augment she’d had implant flared into life. In the air in front of her a data file appeared, glowing a light cyan blue. The mare winked with her left eye and the data file expanded to reveal what appeared to be a time table, she scanned it for a few moments before blinking twice in rapid succession. With another beep and an even duller whine the holographic projector augment deactivated and the data file disappeared into thin air. “However, there is a reason to rush now” she said, looking down at her son “The Canterlot public announcement board says that the next Trans-link home leaves in fifteen minutes” For another five minutes they walked, following the main road to the Trans-link terminal. Pepper-pot resumed leaping over the bollards, betting against the odds that his special talent might have something to do with show jumping at the least. The pair maintained their fast pace, passing by closing shops and other establishments. However, with the Trans-link Terminal in sight, Pepper-pot suddenly stopped in front of s shop window, staring at the contents within. “Look, momma, look!” he said excitedly, turning to look at his mother “It’s a special news report!” Despite knowing that if they missed this Trans-link it would take them another hour to get home, Pepper-pots mother couldn’t help but join her son by the window. Standing within the properties exterior display case was the newest model of High-Definition Holographic Projection Entertainment Centre (Or HD-EC, as it was shortened), its millimetre thin Quartzrazine display panel shining brightly. Despite the fact the store was closed, the proprietor seemed to have forgotten that he had left his merchandise on, and currently the HD-EC was tuned into the Canterlot Public Information Broadcast Channel. The channels logo, two microphones silhouetted over a horse shoe, flashed across the screen, a small voice drifting from the HD-EC’s speaker stands. “We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this special war correspondence report, presented to you by news host Broadcast” A handsome, well built unicorn stallion appeared, smiling warmly at the camera. His coat was a thick creamy colour, his mane a well maintained cascade of gold that framed his face and his sapphire blue eyes excellently. At the sight of him the mare sighed, an indulgent smile on her face. Pepper-pot pressed his muzzle against the glass eagerly, waiting to hear what the anchor-stallion had to say. Broadcast gave his mane a quick flick, causing his golden locks to move in a flow of liquid honey that caused mares across the city, regardless of relationship status and even sexuality, to swoon in the most cliché manner. Once his mane came to a standstill Broadcast smiled against and leaned forward on his desk, his hooves steepled. "Good evening Canterlot, I'm your host Broadcast” the stallion winked at the camera and flashed a bright smile with his perfect white teeth, the mare watching felt herself get lightheaded. “In today's news: the Solar empire successfully launched their assault of the world of Threnor prime in the galactic north east, taking the dim witted NLR forces by total surprise” in the top right corner a large video feed appeared, showing a terra class planet hanging in the black backdrop of space like a sapphire and emerald jewel. “We already have confirmed reports straight from our war correspondents in the field that tell us our glorious empire has made no less then sixteen successful deployments all across the sub continents of Antisia major and minor, with many of the lesser urban centres already within the empires control" the video feed changed to a clip of several burly stallions clad in heavy armour with the symbol of the solar empire on their flanks trading fire with a group of hidden NLR soldiers who where garrisoned within a civilian building. Bright balls of plasma ricocheted back and forth before one of the solar troops threw a grenade into one of the structures windows. There was a fierce explosion and flames billowed out of the buildings windows along with pieces of rumble and several limbs, the structure managed to stand for a few seconds before it collapsed in on itself. "There are also reports of heavy fighting within the world's capital of New Trottingham, with empire troops descending in comets of fire to strike terror into the hearts of our foe” the video feed now switched to an orbital image of the planet, a mass of fiery contrails marking the flight paths of said drop pods. “Our glorious leader, Empress Celestia. Ruler of the Solar Empire and Empress of the Celestial Empire, baroness of the northern systems, head chancellor of the western cooperatives and queen of the griffin realms, was unavailable for comment; however we have had a message from the state secretariat telling us that our empress is overjoyed with this news” the entire screen was taken up of an image of the regal empress Celestia, resplendent in her white coat, the sun rising in the background behind her. “The invasion of Threnor Prime has been under planning for a decade, it was released today. But was only given official authorization for execution after it was uncovered by covert intelligence operatives on the planet that princess Cadence, reviled traitor, murderer of fifteen trillion solar citizens, known breacher of equine rights, and general of the New Lunar Republic, had recently taken command of the planets garrison” an image of princess Cadence appeared in the video feed, her pink, purple, and cream mane whipping out behind her in a crosswind, her light purple eyes twinkling. “It has also been announced by the state secretariat that our glorious leader, Empress Celestia. Ruler of the Solar Empire and Empress of the Celestial Empire, baroness of the northern systems, head chancellor of the western cooperatives and queen of the griffin realms, has deemed that princess Cadences capture is to take highest priority” Cadences image was replaced with that of an Alicorn. A tall creature with a snow-white coat, ultramarine blue eyes, and a mane and tail made with varying shades of reds, yellows and oranges that lent itself a flaming appearance. “In response to this, the department of military co-ordination, in conjunction with the ministers from imperial high command, has assigned the synthetic Alicorn Blaze and Delta squad from the synthetic corps to the mission. Unfortunately Blaze was unavailable for comment, as he was deployed with his team in the opening minutes of the invasion. However, imperial high command has assured us that Delta squad have an out-standing record of service for the empire, and that Blaze himself is known amongst high command for his uncompromising ability to get the job done” “We also have estimates from the war office telling us that the planet will be under the empires control within a fortnight at the most; once again our glorious leader has brought us victory over the new Lunar republic. May the six bless us with their wisdom and continue to guide us in our righteous crusade against the traitorous false empress Luna, all hail the Solar Empire. Goodnight Canterlot, this is your host Broadcast, signing off" With that Broadcast gave the audience a final wink and a quick smile before he was replaced with a re-run of last night’s episode of ‘Warriors’, a dramatised version of the early years of the war. “Wow...” Pepper-pot said, staring in awe at the HD-EC. For a few moments he gazed star-struck into blank space before giving his head a quick shake. “Did you see that Alicorn, momma? Did ya?” he asked excitedly, looking up at his mother. The mare smiled at her son and nodded, enjoying the excited look on his face that only a foal could have. “He was so big! Will I ever get that big, momma?” his mother giggled and ruffled his mane. “Maybe one day, my little Pepper-pot. But right now we missed the Trans-link, so we’re gonna have to wait another thirty minutes for the next” Pepper-pot nodded and together the mother and son made their way to the terminal, Pepper-pot looked up to his mother. “One day I’ll be a big strong Alicorn, momma, I’ll be just like that Blaze pony on the HD-EC” his mother smiled at her son and giggled. “I’m sure you will, my little pepper-pot, i’m sure you will” ≤ΘΘΘ≥ ++SUBJECT STATUS: UNCONSCIOUS. VITAL SCANS: ACTIVE. HEART RATE=THIRTY BEATS PER MINUTE: AVERAGE. BLOOD ACIDITY: 5.5 PH++ ++SYNTHETIC BODY ELEMENTS SCANS: ACTIVE. AI PROGRAMMING, STATUS: NOMINAL. SYNTHETIC HEART, STATUS: NOMINAL. SYNTHETIC LUNGS, STATUS: NOMINAL. SYNTHETIC NEURAL CORTEX'S, STATUS: NOMINAL++ ++SUBJECT'S REALITY PERCEPTION PROGRAMMING IS CURRENTLY WITHIN DEEP LAYER DREAM SPACE. ACTIVATING SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS. NOW ATTEMPTING TO ARTIFICIALLY AWAKEN SUBJECT++ ++SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS ONLINE, INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING: INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING: ONLINE. ENTERING CORE FUNCTION MODE. PREPARING TO ARTIFICIALLY AWAKEN SUBJECT++ ++ENTERING DREAM SPACE++ ++STANDBY++ ≤ΘΘΘ≥ "Come on Red, I wanna go play!" the small filly whined, an earth pony just shy of her tenth birthday "mummy said you would play with me!" Red smiled and closed his book, a thick textbook about the reclamation crusades, before placing it on the metal table before his seat. It was a gorgeous day outside, and the soft light of the blue sun flowed through the open window along with a gentle summer breeze, bringing with it the smells of earth and flowers. "Sally, I've just finished my chores, can't you give your big brother some time to relax?" he asked her, his smile broad. The little filly huffed, and then she gave him her cutie eyes, the eyes he could never say no to. "But mummy said you would, she promised you would! Please Red, please?" her rosy eyes were so wide, imploring him to get off the couch. "We can play catch or something boyish like that if you want, we could go fishing or something" her bottom lip began to tremble "please Red, pleaseeeee?" Red rolled his eyes, his smile widening. "Fine, but after that I'm going to go read and you have to stop bothering me, got it?" the fillies sad expression slipped away in an instant and she cried out with joy, jumping in the air. "YAY, WE'RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN!" she shouted in an excited squeal before dashing out the room in a blur of orange, Red sighed and rolled his eyes again before standing up from his seat, the old leather armchair creaked loudly as he did so. On the way out of the room he stopped by the kitchen to find his mother hard at work cooking, chopping at a carrot with the precision of a machine, the air was thick with the smells of vegetable soup, his favourite. When he entered his mother looked up from the chopping board and gave him a sly grin, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Couldn't let me have five minutes, could you?" Red asked, walking up to the counter and leaning on it, giving his mother a raised eyebrow. Mother picked up the chopping board and slid the pieces of diced carrot into a large stone bowl before she took another carrot and began chopping. "I don't have a clue what you're on about" she said sweetly, all innocence, Red knew better then to buy into it. "I've got exams coming up you know? I need to study if I'm going to make it into the academy" the orbital navigators' academy high above the world of Rylelia was the most prestigious academy within the system, maybe even the whole sector. Rylelia had given the academy some of its brightest minds over the generations, giving rise to such heroes such as Windfree and Skyrunner and countless others, who became the pride of the regional fleet. "Maybe you study just a bit too much" his mother said, looking up from the half chopped carrot "the exams aren't for another year, you should take it easy" his mother resumed massacring the carrot "besides, Sally has no one else to play with, all her friends are away" "She's got two sisters and another brother, can't she play with them?" Red said, picking up a slice of carrot and popping it into his mouth, it gave a satisfying crunch as he bit down on it. "And I just finished my chores, I need to some time off before I go play" "Playing is time off" his mother stated in an irritated tone. "For sally maybe, but I'm fifteen mother, I don't need to play" Red stated in a half whining tone "I have to study besides" "Oh Red, you and your studying" his mother put down the knife and stepped round the counter to look her son in the eye, her own where a deep blue and sad, she had her usual green apron on. "You're getting to worked up over this, with the way you're going you won't need to study to get into the academy, you'll be writing the papers!" she ruffled her sons ash blonde mane "I worry about you sometimes, you need to take a break and just relax, ok?" she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her hooves tightly around him "I know my babies growing up. But can you stop, just for today?" she patted his back, Red felt his resolve break away. "Fine…but just for today, and I'll have to catch up on growing tomorrow" he told her in a joking tone. "That's my foal" his mother looked across to see Sally standing in the kitchen door beaming, her saddle bag on and Reds flank pack in her mouth. "Now get going, before dinners ready" and with that she broke the hug and pushed Red on his rump, propelling him towards the door. Red turned to give her another raised eyebrow, a smile on his face, before he turned to his sister and took up his flank pack, slinging it over his shoulders and adjusting the strap to make it comfortable. "Come on Red, let's go!" his little sister shouted before bolting down the hallway towards the backdoor, shouting out a "bye mummy" behind her before the door opened with a click "come on Red!" "Don't let her fall in the creek this time!" his mother called after him as he left the kitchen and started towards the backdoor "or you'll have to do the washing!" Red smiled yet again as he opened the door and stepped out into the grassy yard, closing it behind him. Their backyard wasn't really so much a yard as a huge field, they lived on the very edge of the city, and beyond the boundary of the fence open grassland stretched out a far as the eye could see, the tall grass blowing freely in the soft breeze. Though the land was technically owned by a farmer, he lived several miles away beyond the sight of the city, so he never had to know if a pair of young ponies decided to trespass. Sally was already at the fence, struggling to climb over due to her height, being as small as she was. "Having some trouble there?" Red asked in a half mocking voice as he approached, Sally shot him a look. "We can't all be as tall as y-WOAH!" she yelped as Red took the strap of her saddle bag in his mouth and lifted her over the fence with ease, gently lowering her into the grass on the other side "thanks Red" "Don't mention it" Red told her as he vaulted over in a single jump, landing with practised ease. "A big brother's gotta help his little sister" he said, ruffling her cherry red mane. Sally shook her head and smiled at him; her eyes irresistibly cute, Red picked her up again by her saddle bag and lifted her onto his back before he started off to the right, following the fence. There was no obvious path to the creek; save for a small dirt track you could only find if you knew where it was. After five minutes of walking he turned at a seemingly random spot to check he had his bearing straight before spinning round to face the open fields "do you remember the song?" he asked his sister, who sat comfortably on his back. "Of course!" "Well then would you sing it for me?" "How else are we gonna find the path?" Sally said, rolling her eyes, before she broke out into song. "Two steps forward, one step back. Have you got everything, what's in your pack? Three to the right and one to your left, ten paces forward and you know the rest" as she sang Red followed her instruction, and when the song was done they stood at the top of a gentle rise, a narrow dirt track running before them, cleverly concealed within the grass to hide it from prying eyes. "Nice work Sally, I don't know how you do it each time" he said, but of course he knew, he'd written the song for her. Sally beamed with pride and they started off, following the track as it wound like a snake through gentle rolling hills and small bumps. As they walked Sally tested Red on his navigation skills. "So how do you get the thingy going?" she asked, Red found her naivety so endearing. "The Auspex scanner?" "Yeah, that's the one" "You select it on the input terminal and enter the activation code" "And how do you tell another ship if yours is coming the same way?" "You have to activate the astropathic warning beacon for the unicorn navigator to sense with their horn" "How come navigators have to be unicorns? Is it because they're smart? You're smarter than a unicorn" Sally asked him, Red couldn't help but chuckle. "Not all navigators are unicorns Sally, but most of them are. You see, each ship has an astropathic beacon to warn other ships where it is, so that things like collisions in phase space can be avoided. Unicorns are important because they can use their horns to sense where the beacon is and make sure that things like crashes don't happen, all ponies can be part of the navigation corps, but each ship has to have at least five unicorn navigators to make sure there are no accidents" "Are you going to be a navigator pony, Red? Mummy says you are, daddy to" "I would like to be one Sally, that way I can get off this planet and see the rest of the galaxy" "What's wrong with this planet?" "Nothing's wrong with it Sally, but…for me it's boring being stuck here. I do like Rylelia, of course I do, but I want to go see the stars" he pointed a hoof up into the sky, where even in the middle of the day the enormous gas giant, Rygial nine, stood out above the world, towering over it. "There's another world beyond that ball of gas, and another, and another, and another, there's hundreds of them, and I'm going to see them all" he sighed as he imagined them all, what they would look like, their suns and their moons. "I'm going to see a green star, the rarest kind. And I'll see the Candean gate where the moons are made of pure diamond, and there'll be black holes and nebula and comets, hundreds and thousands of them" Sally was silent as she mulled this over "you'll still come back for new hearths eve though, right?" Red chuckled again before he ruffled his little sisters' mane. "I'll come back every holiday Sally, just for you" Sally smiled and then yawned; the warm light of the sun had made her drowsy. She curled herself up into a tight ball and flicked her tail around her, covering herself in the red hair to keep her warm. Red kissed her on the forehead and kept on going, the city slowly fell away behind them. Maybe it was the right decision to come out with his sister after all, the blue sun was high in the sky, the warm breeze was flowing through his tail just the way he liked it, and all was at peace in the world, nothing could ever ruin this moment for him. ≤ΘΘΘ≥ ++SYNTHETIC HORMONES FAILING. SUBJECT IS SINKING DEEPER INTO DREAM SPACE++ ++ INITIATING PROGRAMMING OVER-RIDE. DEACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++ ++ACTIVATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE "ANGEL"++ ++INITIALISING "ANGEL"++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++"ANGEL" NOW ONLINE++ ++STUPID CORE FUNCTIONS. THERE'S NO WAY THAT BLAZE WILL GET UP IF YOU ONLY PUMP HIM WITH SOME CHEMICALS. HIS BLOOD STREAM IS SWIMMING IN THE STUFF FOR CELESTIAS SAKE++ ++NOW ATTEMPTING TO ENTER PERCEIVABLE DREAM SPACE AND AWAKEN BLAZE FROM WITHIN++ ++STANDBY++ ≤ΘΘΘ≥ "Blaze, are you ok?...Blaze!" a voice suddenly shouted out of nowhere, crying out from all around him. Red stopped and turned his head from side to side, searching for the origin of the voice. "Hello…is someone there?" he called out, his voice carrying over the grass before the breeze swept it away. The breeze was beginning to pick up, blowing hard against his side, grabbing and tugging at his mane and tail, the voice cried out again. "Blaze, you have to wake up, we need to get moving!" "Where are you?" Red began to spin around, searching for the elusive speaker. "Are you in trouble? Who's Blaze?" there was silence, save for the wind, which was now screaming. It sounded like…engines, and underneath there was the hard, earth shaking pound of heavy guns firing. "Hey, Sally, do you hear that?" he turned to look at his sister, but she was gone. "Sally? SALLY? WHERE ARE YOU?" where could she have gone? She couldn't be hiding; the grass was too short for the young filly to disappear into. "DAMNIT BLAZE!" the voice shouted, as loud as the crying wind. "Activating electro-revival systems" a high pitched whining noise filled the air, growing higher and higher in pitch and volume until it drowned out the wind. Overhead the sky had gone grey, storm clouds had appeared from out of nowhere and hung dark and foreboding, lightening lashing within them, waiting to be released. It began to rain, a downpour of ice cold water that soon drenched Red and froze him to the core. He raised his hooves to his ears, trying to block out the whine, but it wormed its way through them and stabbed into his mind, causing his vision to fill with spots. "Administering electro-revival charge" the voice stated, and a great force punched Red in his stomach, winding him and sending him flying from the path to land hard in the grass. He rolled onto his side, gasping for air and screaming in turn as an electrical fire under his skin burnt at his heart. "SALLY? WHERE ARE YOU?" he screamed, but the storm snapped the words from his mouth and flung them back in his face. The whine began to build again. "Administering electro-revival charge" once again something punched Red in the chest, reaching down into his heart and boiling his blood, sending a fire running through his veins and arteries to fill him with flames. Instead of flying into the air he was forced into the ground, the earth began to crack and small chunks fell away, revealing a hollow blackness beneath it. The darkness was hungry, Red could feel it, it wanted to reach up and consume him. "SALLY! RUN, RUN AND HIDE!" he managed between gasps, if anything happened to his sister he would never forgive himself. Once more the deadly whine began to build, filling the air with a deadly charge that seemed to crackle along his skin and make his hairs stand on end. Overhead the lighting began to lash out with renewed ferocity, struggling to break free of the clouds and come slamming down into the earth. "Administering electro-revival charge" the voice said, calm and placid, the clouds rumbled and all at once a bolt of lightning ripped free from the sea of grey and struck downwards, smashing into his chest. The earth cracked and gave way, the darkness reached up to claim its prize. As Red fell a single word escaped his lips before the endless black depths swallowed him whole. ≤ΘΘΘ≥ ++WELL. HE'S AWAKE. BUT I DON'T THINK HE'S GOING TO BE IN A VERY GOOD MOOD++ ++INITIATING PROGRAMMING OVER-RIDE. DEACTIVATING "ANGEL"++ ++ACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++ ++INITIALISING CORE FUNCTIONS++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++INITIALISING++ ++CORE FUNCTIONS NOW ONLINE++ ++SUBJECT BLAZE NOW RETURNED TO CONCIOUSNESS++ ++RELAYING RECORDED DATA FROM DREAM SPACE TO CELESTIAS GRACE. REQUESTING PSYCHOSOMATIC ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE SUBJECT BLAZES MENTAL STABILITY IN RELATION TO HIS HIGHER AND BASE FUNCTIONS++ ++RETURNING SUBJECT TO FULL CONCIOUSNESS++ ++STANDBY++ ≤ΘΘΘ≥ "SALLY!" Blaze screamed and he emerged from the dream, his chest heaving and his coat soaked with sweat. He gasped for breath, and when he exhaled his vision fogged up, the warm air from his lungs condensing on the visor of his helmet. Behind his eyes he could still see the brilliant flash of white and blue as the lightning struck him, his body felt hot, still filled with boiling blood. In his ears all he could hear was the screaming of the wind and the voice that had called out to him. He tried to shake his head, but something held it firm. All around him was pitch black darkness, occasionally illuminated by a fit of red flickering from source he couldn't see, in front of him was a tiny square of light, so small he wouldn't be able to get his head through it, let alone the rest of his body. It took him a few moments to work out he was within a drop pod, his drop pod. "I survived…" he whispered to himself, not sure whether or not to believe what his eyes where telling him was true or false. He said the words out loud "I survived" the dull patter of rain began to reach his ears; a drop flew through the window and impacted on his visor. He could scarcely believe it "I survived…oh dear goddess I survived!" he threw his head back as far as it could go and cackled with laughter "I SURVIVED, THANK TWILIGHT I SURVIVED!" he began to laugh again, for an instant the burning in his heart was replaced overwhelming joy, then a thought hit him. "Angel…Angel are you there?" for a few moments nothing happened, save for the occasional drop of rain, and then with a gentle hum and a flicker of light, Angel appeared before his eyes, he'd never been so happy to see her. "Angel! We made it, we actually made it!" Angel gave him a look which showed she didn't quite share his enthusiasm. "Yes we did, and I'm glad, but right now we need to rendezvous with the rest of the squad and request immediate extraction from high command. It's a massacre out there Blaze, Intel says that barely a million soldiers and marines from the first wave made planet fall and my short range scanners are showing increased activity from the spire, they're getting ready to hunt the survivors down. We need to get out of here now!" her tone was serious, and Blaze instantly knew better then to disagree with her on anything for the time being. Angel had access to all the technology and programming the white mare had implanted into her body, and until further notice she was the best early warning system he had. "right, let me get out of these cables" he began tugging at the thick metal cables that where keeping him in place, with the power supply on they wouldn't have moved an inch, but with the pods power systems presumably in the crash there wasn't any energy being supplied to them, and Blaze slowly began to pull them loose one by one "what's happening with the invasion so far?" he asked Angel as he worked, pulling out one plug with an audible pop and a spray of orange nanotrite fluid. Angel flickered for a moment as she hooked up to the data frequency of the orbiting fleet and then solidified again, a troubled look on her otherwise unmarred face. "The New Trottingham deployment has been abandoned, high command has put it down to too many initial losses on descent, tactics have been revised and now the fleet are going to try deploying battalions and armour out in the rural areas and bombard the cities into submission. Estimated losses of the initial assault have averaged out at roughly seven hundred and fifty thousand dead, with a margin of error of about three thousand on each side. So far there have been sixteen successful deployments across the planet and three landing zones are still under contestment. The city of Blackreach has fallen and the regional capital of Coltsvale on the continent of Antisia is under empire control" Blaze had his right arm free and was half way through his left. "But the soldiers deployed in New Trottingham have been left to fend for themselves?" over two million where to be deployed during the first assault on the city, but if the estimates where correct and high command really was pulling out, that left roughly a million loyal souls abandoned in the face of the NLR armies retribution strike. He gave one last jerk of his left shoulder and his left arm came free, leaving only his legs still strapped to the pod, which meant he now had to hang in the air until he could pull himself loose. "Wait…is the pod upside down?" "Yes, it's also indented into the side of a building, and command is only cancelling the orbital assault, and only for three days, the fleet has successfully captured a number of defence outposts on the outskirts of the city and are using them as staging areas for a later assault over land" the holo-projectors in his eyes flicked on and an image of a gruff pegausi with a purple coat, yellow eyes and a matted green mane stared at him. His chin was covered in thick stubble and from the left side of his mouth poked a cigar "Colonel Antilles of the Denagios ninety second orbital division is forming a rally point for all survivors about five miles from here, heat signatures suggest he has about two hundred and seventy five thousand survivors are with him and thousands more are moving towards his position" Blaze grunted and pulled his right leg free, the cables hung from the roof like vines of metal. "However further thermal readings show that a number of defence ships from the spire are converging on their position, though communication signatures suggest that Antilles has called in orbital support" with another grunt of exertion and the harsh clang of metal on metal Blaze pulled his left leg free and fell to the floor, or more rather the roof, to form a pile of metal. "Where are the others, did the rest of the squad survive?" he asked as he picked himself up, stretching his rear legs, nothing seemed to be broken … yet. "Sugarcane and Jester survived planet fall unscathed, their pods managed to enter through a blank in the curtain, their current location in ten miles south and moving in our direction. Wonder bread though…" she paused "Wonder bread has currently been moved to the M.I.A. list until further notice, his pod was destroyed within entry of the flak curtain" A video feed replaced the image of the pegausi colonel "this is the last few seconds of footage captured by a on-board external camera before a direct flak round destroyed the pod. In the video Blaze saw the familiar cityscape stretching out in all directions, the spire towering over everything. At its base where the flak batteries and plasma cannons, firing with abandon at the helpless soldiers overhead. suddenly a sheet of metal flew past the camera and for a brief instant the outline of an Alicorn in full battle armour stood out with its wings open, silhouetted by a flash from a flak muzzle, and then it was gone, seconds later the camera footage filled with white and then the feed became filled with grey lines of static. "This is the last known footage of him, it's three hours old" "Three hours…I've been cold for three hours? They could think I'm dead by now Angel!" "There's no need to get hysterical, Lyra has already updated the commanding officer in charge of troop deployment that you're still in one piece" suddenly the ground shook and the pod wobbled violently, the screaming of metal on stone ringing within the confined interior. "We'd better get moving, our location isn't very structurally sound, and the H.K's will be looking for any survivors, we can't stay here any longer" "Got it…" Blaze stood there for a moment "where's my weapons?" "The pods phase-out storage has them, but to get them back we'll have to get the power back online, and the crystalic fusion cells where breached in the crash" Blaze tried to scratch his chin through the visor, but to no avail. "Hmmm…we'll reroute the pods power functions through my fusion core, that should be just enough to deactivate the phase fields" he said, and for an afterthought "and retract this helmet for me, it's getting stuffy" Angel nodded and there was a light beeping noise as the helmet began to retract from atop his head. First went the glass visor, almost invisible lines marking out divisions in the glass divided it up into eight rectangular pieces, four on each side, and they silently slid out of his vision. The top of his helmet began to divide into tiny rectangular sections that slid down the back of his neck to settle in a ring around the bottom of his neck, finally the neck plates that ran under his chin began to slide down like scales to reveal most of his saw line. Blaze shook his head, letting the cool air work its way through his crushed mane and cool him off, before he slowly edged his way to the remains of the viewing port. It was a tiny thing, only a foot by a foot at the most, far too small for him to simply slip through. He inspected it for a moment, considering his means of escape, before he simply shrugged and drew his right hoof back. Inside his armour neurone response recorders detected the movement, and energy from the fusion core which replaced his heart was diverted along the feltrite wiring into his hoof, giving the blow extra strength. A whining filled the air, rising in pitch, and once it reached its crescendo Blaze lashed out as hard as he could, his hoof connecting with the metal with a loud bang and an explosion of blue energy. The door crumpled under the attack and flew off its mechanical hinges, flying through the air to land on the concrete road below with a loud clattering. He wormed his way through the broadened opening and surveyed his surroundings. He'd crashed into what appeared to be one of the more dilapidated areas of the city, too well built to be a true slum, but too run down and shoddy to house any pony with self respect, mostly likely this was a xeno community, a haven for aliens and outcasts. The buildings where tall, as was expected in the densely populated suburbs, each one rising at least nine or ten storeys above him, blocking out the peripherals of the sky and leaving only the three moons above, one made of blood red stone, another a planet in its own right, covered in the green and blue of land and ocean and the last a faint sliver of silver, dull in comparison to its brothers. The road was an old thing, made of black tar and concrete, with pavements on either side, the whole place was covered in litter and was filled with a rank stink of decomposing waste that not even the lashing rain could get rid of. His pod had ploughed a gaping hole through the side of a large, ten storey building on the direct opposite of the street. Through the hole he could see what appeared to be tiny living quarters, each filled with bunk beds, a kitchen counter, and little else. "The ghetto, brilliant" Blaze remarked sarcastically. Though xeno segregation was illegal under the universal acceptance act of M354, it happened on a daily occurrence on almost every planet across the galaxy. Xenos where officially kept apart from ponies in order to "maintain their independence and sense of culture and community within the empire" or in other words, to ensure the general populace didn't have to go around each day seeing alien species inferior to their own. As a result xenos where kept in closed communities with each other, usually in the less desirable areas of the cities and towns. Crime, drug abuse and racism on an interspecies level where common, and tensions where always high within the ghettos. Though the areas where meant to be patrolled by enforcer units on a daily basis, law enforcement often neglected their duties, and it was always alien communities that tallied up the greatest number of murders and rapes. At times the seething hatred that most of the oppressed alien population harboured for their despotic rulers would boil over and riots would erupt, resulting in serious damage to property and brutal crackdowns by the enforcers. In the end no xeno could ever hope for something good within life's boundaries, aliens where banned from the best schools, jobs, and public services, many could only aspire to a menial position on the war fleets. It was the griffins that had secured the best deal, at the founding of the empire they had secured several colonies in the galactic north and declared themselves independent, banning intersystem trade and travel and keeping themselves isolated within their domain. Empress Celestia ruled them, but only by a technicality, she was queen of the griffins in title alone, and was forbidden from setting hoof upon any of the griffin worlds upon pain of death. "Nice place" Blaze muttered to himself and he looked over the edge of the doorway, the ground was three storeys below him. "Angel, activate the magnetic clamps, I'm going to the power supply" all drop pods where powered by compact fusion generators and several tanks of Taliethaline, a highly combustible substance that once lit would burn until there was nothing left. In order to reach the fusion reactor Blaze would have to get to the roof of the pod, but since the pod was upside down, he would have to climb down to reach it. He would have flown, but he wouldn't be able to focus on flying and re-wiring a reactor at the same time, he wasn't that good with his synthetic wings, not yet at the least. There was a dull hum and he placed his right arm on the metal of the pods exterior, and though the metal was slick with rain, his hoof held fast. He leaned across and placed his left arm on the metal, one small step and he would be out into empty space. Blaze took a deep breath, counted to three, and then stepped out. The magnets held firm, and he swiftly began lowering himself down to the roof, if that made any sense. Each time he lowered his hooves back down to the metal they stuck with a clang, and Blaze couldn't help but freeze, knowing that if he was found by NLR forces now then there would be no easy escape. Nothing appeared however, the six where merciful, and he swiftly reached the bottom of the pod. "Alright Angel, you know what to do" he said, stopping before the base of one of the RAM jets, a turbine with most of the fans now missing. Angel disappeared and then there was the faint clicking sound of needles on metal, Blaze watched as Angels mobile storage core appeared on his shoulder and began to make its way up his left arm, moving like a bulbous metal spider. With gentle clicking it swiftly made its way up his arm and then up to the sheet of metal, making the transition from his armour to the pods exterior with no trouble. "So, do you reckon the invasion will be successful? Or are we all going to be dead by the end of the month?" The tiny storage core paid him no mind, but instead, a tiny tentacle like appendage emerged from one of its seamless sides and snaked its way forward, a tiny red light glowing on its tip. For a few moments it moved back and forth, casting its dull glow on the metal plating, but then with a soft click the light turned off, to be replaced with a bright blue glow as a beam of energy lanced out to begin slicing at the plating. With slow and steady precision Angel cut through the metal in a perfect square, a foot in diameter. It came away with a gentle nudge and fell towards the street below, crashing loudly as it impacted with the concrete of the street below. Within the portal Angel had created was a pair of Glass tubes, hooked together at the bottom and the top by large bundles of wires, the tubes where filled with a azure blue liquid that glowed brightly, even when highly damaged, the fusion core was still giving off energy. Angel crawled inside and disappeared from sight, the only way to follow her was to listen to the clanking of her legs on the metal. There was more clicking, a brief flash of red, and then with a high pitched whine, the pods systems came back online, the two tubes of fluid beginning to glow brightly. The core reappeared and climbed back down his arm to nestle in its port, a few seconds later Angel reappeared, floating in the air on a pair of white wings, which her programming allowed her to use when necessary. "Statistics indicate we could be dead in fourteen-point-six days, as for the whole of the orbital strike force, forty-two-point-three" she stated in a blunt tone, Blaze rolled his eyes. "Very pessimistic, aren't you?" he asked her. He pulled his right arm loose and hung on with his left, the powerful magnets holding him in place. He reached down and tapped his chest plate on his right side, there was a low beep and a panel of the armour sunk inwards and slid upwards out of sight, revealing a selection of wires and plug-in jacks. One wire, a thick green and yellow striped snake, slid outwards and began to reach upwards, moving like a worm through wet earth as it sought the surface. It paused at the open panel, and almost seemed to tilt quizzically as it studied the masses of wires and computer chips, before it shot forwards into a bundle of wires and beeped. Blazes vision filled with schematics of the pod, images taken by the on board external cameras, and data streams filled with endless statistics that streamed across like shoals of fish, all of them glowing a faint gold. "Angel, access the core energy distribution programming" Angel nodded and flickered, in his vision a column of one of the data streams expanded to fill his sight. "Access input signals" a square section of coding highlighted itself in bright yellow. "Engage external over-ride" the Streams came to a halt and flickered, dying down to a deep grey before becoming bright again, this time a light blue. "Reroute power to the phase-out storage units" there code flashed a deep blue and a cough escaped from the twin tubes as they began to glow even brighter, they began to rumble, and the whole pod started to shake slightly, a brick dislodged itself from the wall to his left and tumbled down to the street to join the plate of metal. "Phase-out systems online, calibrating contained atoms for reintegration" Angel said, her projection flickering in and out as she integrated with the pods programming systems. "Removing ionised materials, readjusting electron-proton ratio, initiating phase-in process" a bright white flash erupted from the metal mouth of the pod overhead, followed shortly after by a clattering as the weapons inside dropped to the floor. Blaze couldn't help but wince at the sound; he could hear it loudly over the rain. He took a breath and retracted the plug, the data streams fading from his vision as connection was lost, and then he reattached his right hoof and began to lift himself upwards to the pods door and his weapons within. He heaved himself up and over the lip of the access hatch and immediately picked up his rail rifle, checking it over before concluding there was no major damage done. Phase-out storage broke apart the bonds holding the atoms of the weapon together and then suspended them in a magnetic field, meaning that the atoms held their shape and the bonds could be reformed without anything being out of place. Of course, the molecules could have been scattered when the pod crashed, so double checking his weapons for any new defects was only common sense. His jezzaile was in working order as well, and he placed both of them on his back, underneath his wings. A powerful magnetic field held them in place, and then small rings of armour came out of the armour and locked them in place. He was now fully armed and armoured, his rifle on his left and his jezzaile on his right. At the open door he once again paused to take in his surroundings; the broken street, the dilapidated buildings, the hopes and dreams of their occupants gone, the sound of guns booming and the patter of rain. "Jester and Sugarcane are ten miles south, we should move to rendezvous with them" Angel said, behind him "Are you ready to go catch Cadence?" That made Blaze come up short, the sudden realisation that he could be on the threshold of vengeance making him pause. He remembered his dream, and Sally, warm and soft on his back, as she looked up at him with her adorable eyes. He tensed and gritted his teeth as he recalled yet again the debt owed to him. "Yeah" he said, before leaping from the pod and opening his wings, gliding down to alight silently in the middle of the road "I'm ready" and with that he started off. At the end of the street they came to a large boulevard, wide and robust and with strips of shiny black metal like rails sunk into the surface to support maglev vehicles. Though the road was grand, it was still shabby compared to what he would find toward the centre of the city. Store fronts lined the road, everything from grocery stores to clothing to electronics, and all were boarded up and abandoned, left behind by their owners as they fled the invasion. Every seventy meters or so a street much like the one had had crashed in would branch off from the main road, in the rain it was difficult to see how long the roads where or were they went. Blaze moved in close to the shadows cast by a building at the corner and looked up and down the length of the road, searching for possible enemies. The street lamps had gone out, and that combined with the downpour meant his range of vision had been brought up short, he could see a hundred meters in front of him at the most. Overhead the orbital assault had long since come to an end and only the sounds now where the faint pattering of rain and the cry of the wind as it whistled through the abandoned buildings. "I can't see a thing in this damn rain" he muttered to himself "Angel, deploy helmet" the AI nodded and flickered, before a faint whirring filled the air as the armour extended upwards and his helmet came together around his head, the visor crystal clear. The rain had gotten through his mane and had soaked it through, leaving it plastered against his neck. Red had been born with a sandy blonde mane and red coat, but Blaze was snow white and his mane a mixture of yellows, reds, and oranges, giving it a flaming appearance. The chemicals the white mare who synthesised him had used to alter him had caused his coat to bleach as his original skin cells died, and the introduction of magic into his body had literally caused his mane to flare up and burn, leaving it like it was now once the fires had died down. Now, with the rain soaking him through to the bone and his mane plastered to his neck, the flames seemed a lot dimmer, as if the downpour was causing their fires to flicker and die. With his body now fully armoured Blaze glanced down the street again, "Angel, activate thermal imaging" there was a click and then a high pitched whine and the world painted itself in deep tones of blue, nothing out there was emitting heat for him to detect. It was the same when he glanced up the street, nothing living or warm was out and about. 'But that doesn't mean they aren't there' Blaze thought to himself 'It just means that I can't see them' He blinked twice in rapid succession and the thermal imaging shifted over to his left eye, leaving his right with normal rain filled vision. The silence of the rain compared to the screaming and booming that had until just a few hours ago been his world seemed to give the cityscape an ethereal quality. "Heads up" Angel said "I'm getting a large thermal reading, roughly a mile north of our position heading east towards the city centre, from my guess it's a war mech or a gunship" "Friendly?" It was a stupid question, the likelihood of any heavy armour being planet-side was minimal after the recent massacre, but Blaze wouldn't have minded if a few tanks of mechs had been deployed. "Not likely, high command didn't order any mechs to be deployed with the first assault. More like it's an NLR vehicle being recalled from the field, a scout probably" that sent a shiver racing down his spine, a thrill of fear and adrenalin, they could only be a few minutes away from action. "Is it following us?" "No…wait a second…" Angel flickered yet again, the rain falling straight through her to hit the concrete road beneath her hooves "Contact has just altered course and is gaining speed, new directional heading is…" Angels pale skin somehow managed to turn a shade whiter. "It's coming this way, contact in twenty seconds!" It was all Blaze could do to simply curse and search for cover. "Fifteen seconds remaining" Blaze backed into the shadows of the street corner and searched for a door into the building, there was no other place to look for cover. "Ten seconds" "What the fuck moves this fast!" Blaze shouted in exasperation, glancing up and down the wall of brick in front of him, no door was in sight "Dammit!" he shouted, punching at the wall and causing the bricks underneath his blow to turn to powder. "Five seconds" the screaming of RAM jets filled the air yet again, a high pitched wail that went on and on and on, driving into his mind. From the top of the street two dots of orange appeared, some distance away, but closing the gap quickly. "Right, that does it" Blaze stepped away from the shadows and into the centre of the road before turning to face the orange dots, which were rapidly growing larger. "Contact with enemy made" Angel said, appearing at his side. From the mists the orange dots grew wider and suddenly without any warning a gunship emerged from the rain. It was a large VTOL jet, roughly about ten or twelve meters long. Slung underneath its wings where racks of missiles, their heads painted a dull red which in the dark rain turned them black. At the centre of each wing was a large rotor moving at incredible speed, and on the wing tips was a row of small rocket thrusters used for steering and guidance. Underneath the cockpit were two large mini guns, their barrels painted black, and through the canopy of the cockpit itself he could see the pilot highlighted in the sharp glow of the onboard guidance computers. The pilot was a handsome stallion with a red mane and brown coat, he gave Blaze an evil smile, and then he tensed. "Enemy engaged" Angel whispered. A high pitched whine filled the air, loud over the pattering of the rain, the barrels of the two mini guns began to spool as they prepared to fire. "SHIELDS UP!" Blaze shouted, spinning to the right and kneeling to bring his right wing up to protect himself, the blue glow of the plasma shields bathing his face in its gentle of illumination. Oddly, Blaze couldn't help but notice that the colour seemed more vibrant then before. With a deafening roar the gunship opened fire and the mini guns spat out a tongue of fire as bolts of orange shot out from their barrels to punch at Blazes wing shields like hammer blows. Blaze grunted as the bullets impacted with the shields, every time a bullet hit the field of plasma it would bounce off an a small ripple would spread out through the shield like it was made of water. The force of the bullets slowly pushed him back, his hooves sliding on wet ground beneath him as he skidded backwards. "Blaze, we can't keep the shields up forever!" Angel called to him over the loud bark of the guns. An image of his wings filled his vision, the left glowed a light blue, the right was flashing a deep red, in the top corner red words that spelled 'WARNING' flashed in time with the wing. "Power supplies are down to forty percent, if we take anymore punishment like this we could lose power to the right shield within twenty seconds!" "IT'LL HOLD!" Blaze shouted. His right wing was beginning to throb, a dull pain that made him ache. "Blaze, the shield could collapse at any mome-" "IT'LL HOLD!" Blaze gritted his teeth and ground his hooves into the concrete, trying to stop him from sliding further down the road. "COME ON YOU SON OF A BITCH! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?" he roared over the din of the guns, he doubted the pilot could hear him, but he cursed the pony anyway. As if to answer him the guns fell silent, the final sounds they made was the tinkling noise of bullet casings falling to the floor and the deepening whir as the guns slowed to a halt. Blaze lowered his wing and stood back up; turning to face the gunship, within the cockpit the pilot was frowning in annoyance. The stallion reached up to his overhead console and flipped a few switches. Barely audible over the pouring rain, there came a whirring noise as a boarding ramp at the rear of the gunship opened up. With the clanking of battle armour several stallions dropped from the boarding ramp at the rear of the ship, making the two storey jump without a moments hesitation. they landed hard on the tarmac of the road, so hard in fact that it fractured underneath their weight. One amongst them, a burly pegausi stallion clad in a deep green flak vest, began shouting orders, but his words where drowned out from the pouring rain and the roar of the VTOLs turbines. The soldiers around him however immediately moved into action, rushing forwards towards Blaze with looks of aggressive determination on their faces. There were about ten of them in total, all of them earth ponies save for the pegasus, who Blaze correctly assumed was the sergeant. They encircled him, each pointing their weapons at him and yelling in unison to drop his weapons and surrender. All the while Blaze didn’t move a muscle, standing stock still and watching silently. “GIVE UP!” the pegausi sergeant shouted, a heavy duty shotgun held in his hooves “WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED. SURRENDER NOW AND COME QUIETLY OR THINGS CAN GET MESSY VERY QUICKLY!” Blaze gave the pegasus an even look, taking note of his strengths and weakness. Beside him Angel flickered as she performed an instant area scan, taking into attention every detail of their situation. “There’s ten of them” she said in a calm voice, nonchalant of their current predicament. “They’re all wearing mark twelve flak vests, standard issue amongst the republics forces” she turned to look up at the VTOL, which hung menacingly overhead. “The VTOL is equipped with dual devastator class mini-guns, as well as a payload of forty interceptor missiles” Her projection flickered again as she scanned the gunships systems “There’s a mechanical fault on the right missile rack, i would suggest placing an incendiary explosive between the missiles” Blaze nodded in understanding. “DON’T FUCK WITH US, ALICORN!” the sergeant yelled, slightly unnerved by Blazes lack of attention to the situation. “DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW OR WE WILL FIRE!” Blaze gave the pony another look, this time bored by the cliché predicament he was in. “Loud mouth, isn’t he?” Angel remarked before giving an exasperated sigh. “How long do you reckon it will take me to kill them all?” Blaze asked her. All around him the soldier bristled at his tone. Since they were unable to see Angels psycho-projection they assumed he was talking to himself, as if he was mad or something. They shifted, the already tense atmosphere thickening as the brevity of the situation hit them. They were about to face down an Alicorn for the six’s sake! It didn’t help he could also be insane ... Their fears were well grounded. There were many cases of Alicorns from the specialist and synthetic corps going mad, driven over the edge by the violence and bloodshed that became their day to day lives. Blaze himself had a history with skirting the edges of the abyss, his troubled past and military career warping his morality. “I would guess about three minutes tops” Angel said, tossing her snow white mane “Shall i start a timer” “Yeah, sure. Why not?” Blaze said, he looked towards the pegasus and smiled warmly, as if he was greeting an old friend “Start on my mark” “I MEAN IT, ALICORN!” the sergeant shouted, becoming increasingly aggressive as Blazes casual demeanour filled him with agitation and paranoia “DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW” “On my mark, Angel” Blaze said, unfurling his wings. The blue light of the shields began to glow even brighter as he funnelled extra energy into the emitters, strengthening the array. “I SAID DROP THEM!” “Three” “RIGHT NOW!” “Two” Blaze rolled his shoulders, limbering them up for the violence about to come he gave his hind legs a kick each. “Engaging combat drug dispensers, placing priority on adrenaline and penicillin” Angel said. Blaze shivered slightly as he felt hundred of tiny needles on the interior of his armour penetrate his coat, pumping in the combat drugs to aid in the efficiency of the coming slaughter. “one” “SQUAD, READY WEAPONS!” the sergeant shouted at the top of his voice. All around Blaze there came the clicking of weapons as the soldier deactivated the safety catches on their weapons. For a few brief moments the world slowed. Blaze took a deep breath, feeling the cold sear against what was left of his organic lungs. The rain and the roar of the gunships turbines dimmed, leaving them in silence. Blaze felt the combat drugs in his system flare into life. His heart rate picked up, his muscles tensed. His pupils dilated, taking in every final detail of the world. It was the calm before the storm, a brief instance of false peace. In the blink of an eye the storm broke and the peace shattered. “FIRE!” the pegasus shouted, and the weapons of his squad flared into life, spitting balls of plasma at the synthetic Alicorn. But by then Blaze was already moving. As the words left the pegasus’s he charged forward, the battle cry of the solar empire on his lips. With a roar of animalistic rage Blaze slammed a hoof into the pegasus’s chest, nanofibres in his armour channelling energy from the fusion core in his heart to his hoof, lending the blow extra strength. As the hoof made contact there was a deep boom and an intense flash of cyan light. The pegausi flew backward ten feet from the force of the attack, the energy involved so strong that his bones shattered and as he hit the tarmac of the road his body collapsed into a pile of meat, its natural support structure destroyed. The last words the pegasus ever heard where “FIRE AND FURY!” With a cry of wordless dismay the moral of the NLR soldiers shattered like the bones of their sergeant. Blaze spun around to the nearest soldier and charged towards him, a scream of bestial fury coming up from his throat. Before the pony even had time to react Blaze was on him, coming down like a tide of metal. Punching the pony in the face, Blaze disorientated his target before grabbing him by the throat, spinning him round, and wrapping his hoof around his neck in a choke hold. Using his free hoof he reached to a pistol holstered around the ponies flank and pulled it free, pulling the now struggling earth pony tight against him. Using his captive as a meat shield, Blaze drew a bead on the nearest pony with the pistol and shot him through the skull. Unprotected by any armour, the ponies face became a ruined crater as the bullet crushed the bridge of his muzzle and ploughed straight his head, punching through the centre of his brain and exiting through the back of his head in a gory shower of bone and grey matter. The pony fell with the clattering of his flak vest and little else. Blaze shot another opponent in the same manner before the rest of his opponents had registered the sudden change in the tide of the battle. Over head the gunship was swivelling to drew a bead on blaze with its mini-guns, but in the tight confines of the streets he didn’t have enough clearance to get his shot. The rest of the opposing squad opened fire, and Blazes shield screamed as plasma scorched his fur and burned through his flak vest, causing it to melt and fuse with his coat. Blaze shot another pony through the head before dropping the pistol and pulling a knife from the flank of his shield. Without a second thought his grip tightened around the neck of his captive pony and crushed his vertebrae with a disgusting snap. Dropping his shield he barrelled forwards to the next victim, another earth pony. His targets eye went wide and Blaze favoured him with a savage smile before lashing out with the knife, burying it under his chin to pierce up through his skull and into the centre of his brain. With a spasm the pony died and Blaze pulled on the grip of the knife, using it as a handle to spin the pony round and throw him like a brick at the next opponent, who yelped in fear as the body of his now dead squad mate bowled him over. Blaze ran at the downed pony and leapt over the body of the dead soldier, his hooves slamming down to crush the skull of the pony who was trapped underneath. Blood, bone, and brain went flying, some of the grey brain matter sticking to the hooves of Blazes armour. With a cry of dismay the remaining three ponies began to fall back, their moral sapped and their spirits crushed under the onslaught of this blood-frenzied Alicorn they had picked a fight with. Blaze laughed manically and leapt forward at the closest pony, using his wings to give him a burst of additional speed. Landing heavily on the stallions back, blazes immense weight drove the stallion into the ground, crushing his spine and killing him instantly. Blaze pulled another knife from the ponies flank and threw it at the second last of his opponents. The blade spun head over hilt and buried itself between the ponies eyes. He dropped dead without a sound. The last of his assailants was now out of range for Blaze to kill with his own two hooves, so he had to resort to more mundane fire arms. With a set of faint clicks the rings that held the jezzaile to his flank came loose and he reached back to pull it out, he held it in his arms, rearing back on his legs to take aim down the snub nosed barrel, taking the fleeing pony in his sights. Whilst many species had evolved with appendages such as fingers, griffins and dragons and such, the wide open plains of equine prime had led the pony species to develop simple hooves, broad, flat and ideal for galloping over great distances. As a result of this the trigger on the jezzaile was more rather a pressure plate, Blaze punched down hard on it. There was a split second where the gun emitted a high pitch whine as the synthetic elements within where ionised and magnetised, followed by a tremendous boom as the weapon fired its deadly payload of highly ionised feltrite. The kick back was incredible, the stock slammed into Blazes shoulder with the force of a thousand bucks, however at the shoulder joint tiny bundles of nanofibres seized together and held the armour in one piece, preventing it from shattering under the force. At the snubbed nose of the barrel there was a pulse that went out in a wide circle like ripples in a calm pool, and the feltrite round, scarcely larger then a marble, shot out and impacted with the back of the fleeing ponies head. With a heavy smacking noise the bullet went straight through the ponies head. As it passed through it discharged its stored kinetic energy into the ponies skull, causing his head to explode messily. There were no chunks of bone or brain this time, the ponies head simply burst apart in a shower of red goo, each globule leaving trails of fine red mist in their wake. The ponies headless body collapsed to the ground and skidded along the tarmac as the momentum of the pony carried it onwards, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Without even pausing to consider the carnage he had just reeked, Blaze opened his wings and leapt into the air. He flew straight past he glass cockpit of the gunship and smiled in deadly rapture as he saw the shocked look on the pilots face. As he passed by the missile rack Blaze raised his right hoof, and from a small hole in his armour at his wrist, a tiny ball of plasma that glowed red was fired at one of the missiles, set on a deadly collision course with the deadly ordanence which was its target. Without loosing any of his momentum Blaze banked sharply and swooped down to land of the tarmac road directly in front of the VTOL, smiling as he prepared to watch some spectacular fireworks For a moment the world seemed to slow down, and Blaze watched as the first missile turned into a bloom of fire. The trendils of flame spread out and slithered across the other rockets like snakes, wrapping their fiery arms around them and consuming them in sheets of gold. One by one, with faint poofing noises, the rest of the ordnance detonated. Blaze couldn't help but marvel at it, and then time seemed to speed up and with a grating roar the rack exploded and punched a hole through the wing above it, the flames so hot that they melted their way through the metal and rushed through the hole to meet the open sky, where the lashing rain drowned them all. Within the cockpit the pilot barely had time to register that Blaze had taken his shot before the cabin was filled with red warning lights and the VTOL began to tilt ominously to the right. The VTOL lurched like a drunk and the pilot grabbed at the controls, trying to steady his craft out, but to no avail. With a fit of coughing the engines on the right wing gave in and the engines of the left wing overcame them, causing the gunship to flip over as it crashed into a building in the side of the street. Bricks and metal went everywhere, flying out across the road to skin along the concrete, where the metal touched the ground it gave off sparks . A thick cloud of dust settled over the wreck of the craft, concealing the twisted pile of metal that it had become. Blaze placed the still warm jezzaile against his flank and the armour reached out to lock it tight against him, tiny tubes emerging to pump coolant fluids into the internal systems, preventing the ionisation chamber within from melting. Beside him Angel watched on passively as the dust began to settle. "Guess that's why the Solar Empire is winning" she said in a matter-of-fact voice, Blaze grinned. "How long did I take?" he asked in an eager manner, as he'd won a competition at the fair and was waiting for his reward. Ordinarily Blaze had a sour disposition to killing, only doing it out of necessity, But the thrill of combat was fresh in his mind and the synthetic combat drugs within his blood stream had yet to decay. If you where to measure Blazes entire personality by his current disposition, the only conclusion you could come to was a blood crazed psychopath. "Two minutes and thirty six seconds" Angel said emotionlessly, watching smoke rise up from the burnt wreck of the gunship "A new record, I'll log it in the memory core" Blaze smiled. "Let's see if the bugger's still alive and kicking, maybe we can get some Intel out of him" Angel nodded in agreement, and Blaze began to approach the downed aircraft. He had to pick his way through the minor avalanche of rubble the crash had caused and then climb up a pile of bricks to the second floor to reach the rear access hatch of the VTOL. The tail of the craft pointed straight up into the air, at its peak a small guidance engine still sputtered and coughed, releasing small clouds of oily black smoke. Underneath the tail was a small square sheet of metal, heavily dented and scratched, in one corner it had come loose and through the hole Blaze could see the flickering orange glow of fire. He reached up, grabbed at the loose section of the hatch, and wrenched hard. There was a scream of protest as the hydraulics holding the hatch in place resisted him, and then with a slight popping noise and a stream of oil it came free, Blaze chucked it over his shoulder. As the metal came clanging down onto the street below Blaze opened his wings and leapt upwards, through the hatch and into the orange lit interior of the ship. The metal plating's had been ripped and dented, wires hung in bundles from the ceiling like vines and sent showers of sparks flying everywhere. The cockpit itself was just as wrecked. The guidance computers had been trashed, their screens shattered and veined with cracks, the overhead consoles had been torn open and Blaze could see more wires within, coiling about like worms. The canopy had been smashed on impact, and shards of broken glass littered the floor, crunching whenever Blaze stepped on one with an armoured hoof. The pilot was slumped in his seat; he wasn't moving, not even so much as twitching. Angel flickered and a second later Blazes tail flashed and began to glow blue as energy from his fusion core coursed through the nano-conducting tubes that coated it. He flicked it and it lashed put like a whip, connecting with the side of the ship and causing a storm of sparks. "Give yourself up kid" Blaze stated, his voice flat "there's no reason for you to get hurt" Blaze chuckled darkly "unless you give me one". The pilot didn't respond, he simply sat in his seat, back to Blaze. "Hey kid" Blaze strode forward and grabbed the stallion by his shoulder "I sai-". With a pain and rage fuelled scream the stallion suddenly spun around on his seat and leapt over the back of it to come crashing down on Blaze, who shouted in Surprise. "YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" the stallion yelled and they tumbled to the floor with a heavy clattering, Blazes armour causing him to dent the metal plating underneath him, the stallion, being unrestrained as he had no armour, swiftly climbed on top of him, pinning him down. "THIS IS FOR MY GIRL" he said, raising a hoof and then slamming it down on Blazes visor so hard that it chipped. The stallions roared wordlessly and raised his hoof again. As it came slamming down Blaze twisted his head to the right, dodging the blow which instead of hammering into his helmet, crashed down hard on the steel of the floor. Before his opponent had time to recover Blazes tail lashed out from under him and whipped against the stallions flank. There was a flash of blue light, the stench of burning meat, and a howling scream as energy flowed through the pony's blood, causing it to boil. With his enemy distracted Blaze brought his right hoof up and cracked the stallion in the side of his muzzles, causing a sickening crunch as the bone and cartilage underneath the skin collapsed. The stallions head snapped sideways and blood flew from his mouth, Blaze lashed out with his tail again and punched with his left hoof, sending the stallion flying backwards to crash into the back of the pilots' chair, where he slumped to the floor, barely conscious. Blaze picked himself up from the floor, by the door Angel stood with a passive look on her face. "Retract helmet" Blaze said as he swilled some spit around his mouth, as soon as the visor was off his face he spat a thick glob of phlegm "son of a bitch jumped me" he muttered. Once he was back on his hooves again he approached the recumbent form of the stallion, much more cautious after his last run in. he prodded the pony with a hoof, the stallion gave off a dull groan of pain and began to come to. "Right then" Blaze grabbed the pony with his arm and heaved him into the air "tell me where Cadence is" he asked, scowling at his captive. "Wh…what?" the stallion managed, his voice a slur. "Tell me where Cadence is" "Fuck you" the pony murmured. Blaze grinned and punched him in the gut with an armour hoof, causing the stallion to yelp in pain. "TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Blaze roared in the ponies face, before lowering his voice to a menacing whisper "I'm running out of patience" "Piece of Solar scum" the stallion spat some blood and a broken tooth into Blazes face. "Right, that's it" Blaze punched the pony in the gut again and then dragged him to the access hatch, holding him over the edge of the ledge with a hoof gripped firmly around his throat. The stallion pawed weakly at the iron grip around his wind pipe, but to no avail. "Where is Cadence?" "I…I don't know…please…I'm just a pilot…" the stallion managed to gasp. Blaze felt anger begin to rise in his chest. He spun round and flung the stallion back against the seat with a sickening crunch, where he once again slumped to the floor, this time he would never get back up. "Come on Angel" Blaze said, spitting over the side of the ledge. He leapt out into the air and opened his wings, soaring into the sky, Angel following close behind "let's go find the others" ≤ΘΘΘ≥ Waiting, they were always waiting, and watching, forever watching. Atop a black throne made of bone and blood the dark entity watched and waited, biding her time as the pieces of the plan slowly came together. Before her, in the great hall made of shadows, the children swarmed. She loved her children, and the children loved her; it was love that sustained them, held them together. At the mere thought of the emotion the creatures felt its stomach groan and she snarled, baring fangs that glistened with saliva. There was loved between her and the children, but not the love she craved, that she needed to survive. The entity longed to feed on the emotions of the mortals, to sink her fangs into warm flesh and feast on the life and heat underneath. Once they had all feasted upon the mortals of the world beyond theirs. Once she had gorged herself on the emotions of royalty. Anger, rage, hate, sorrow, misery, she had consumed them all. But it was love she hungered after the most, the sweet honeydew taste of love. By her feet one of the children was mewling pitifully as its brother viciously attacked it, ripping at its skin and burying fangs deep into its flesh. The child looked to its mother with eyes filled with pain and fear, begging for assistance. 'But why should I give it reprieve?' she thought as the older sibling tore open its younger brothers chest and began to gorge on the spoilt meat of the rotten heart within. Within the realm of magic only the strong survived, and the creature upon the throne was the strongest of them all. "My queen, I have returned" one of her children knelt at the base of the throne, materialising from a sudden cloud of black smoke; she acknowledged its presence with an imperceptible nod "Cadence will do as you will, mother. She attempted to resist, but in the end she bent to your will, like so many others will" She smiled; this was pleasing to her, all the pieces of the game where falling into place, now it was only a matter of time before all her plans came to fruition. "Good, my child" she rose from the throne, smiling to reveal wickedly sharp fangs. "Everything is occurring as I predicted, soon the mortals will once again know true fear in their hearts" and with that Chrysalis threw back her head and laughed, filling the throne room with the sound of insanity.